Today’s scripture: John 8:12-20 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Melody Merida):
Growing up in a fundamentalist independent Baptist church, I was taught many things about the Christian faith. However, I was taught very little about Christian traditions which differed from my own, and even less about faith traditions outside of Christianity.
The one thing I was taught was that most other folks, Catholics or Presbyterians or Buddhists or Muslims, were on the fast track to hell. There was a bit more flexibility for Catholics or Presbyterians because they at least called themselves Christians, but no room at all for other faiths. We (my personal faith community) believed they were the work of the devil, meant to keep those who practiced them from knowing God.
The ironic thing is that we never saw this as judgment. We, like the rest of the Christian community, would read the New Testament stories like the one we read today and look with scorn and derision at the judgmental Pharisees. We would say things like, “How dare they judge Jesus by their human standards? Didn’t they know who they were dealing with? How could they be so narrow-minded that they couldn’t see the light of the world past the law of their faith tradition?” I didn’t even realize that my attitude mirrored not the one whom I claimed to serve, but the Pharisees who challenged Jesus.
Because we live in a human world it is so easy to get caught up in the human standards of judgment just like the Pharisees. It’s easy to think that we have a monopoly on truth or on the only acceptable way to be in the world; but that thinking is judgment by purely human standards. Jesus chose love over judgment and he invites us, his followers, to do the same.
Anything less than love is not of God.
Prayer for the day: God, help us to never choose judgment as a tool for proclaiming our faith. Remind us that “we see through a glass darkly and only understand in part”, as the scriptures tell us. Teach us to put aside human judgment and learn to love instead. Amen.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.